


The Cage You Choose

by amyfortuna



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: (Not Eöl's), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anger, Attempted Murder, Canonical Character Death, Flashbacks, Gen, Helcaraxë Memories, Imprisonment, Lima Syndrome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-19 04:38:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11890194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amyfortuna/pseuds/amyfortuna
Summary: In the aftermath of Eöl's attack on Aredhel, Egalmoth must decide how to get necessary information out of him to save Aredhel's life.





	The Cage You Choose

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lunarium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/gifts).



Egalmoth felt that he would have to kick himself for the rest of his days, for he was just a second too late to stop Eöl throwing the short javelin he had managed to smuggle in. There would be words with the guards who should have stopped him later, there would be all kinds of yelling, but for now the priority was keeping Eöl away from the rest of the city for the night, until the King could decide what to do with him.

Wrestling him down to the ground and tying his wrists together with a bit of rope, Egalmoth then pulled his captive, none too kindly, out of the palace to the guardrooms down the street. There were several rooms in the place with locks on the doors, mainly used for errant children who'd been up to mischief until their parents could be found, or for drunken Elves who needed a place to sleep it off. Very rarely was there ever anything more serious to deal with in peaceful Gondolin. 

Eöl was silent until he was firmly locked in the cell. Egalmoth tested the lock to be sure it would hold, and Eöl first took the opportunity to remove the rope around his hands, somehow managing to unknot it with ease. He threw it to the ground and glared at Egalmoth. 

"My wife," he said firmly and coldly. "My wife." 

Egalmoth gave him a steady look, then turned to one of his junior guards. "Go and see how the Lady Aredhel fares." The guard nodded, and slipped out the door, clearly relieved to be out of the room. 

He took a deep breath. Eöl began pacing the length of his cell like a hungry tiger, five steps up, five steps down. When he approached the bars again, Egalmoth began to speak. "Why did you come here?" he said bitterly. "If you have wounded her badly, Turgon's wrath will be fearsome." 

He shook his head, memories coming back to him, of the darkest day in all the dark days between the death of the Trees and the rising of the Moon: the day of Elenwë's death. Egalmoth had been a youth on the Ice, and the day when it cracked beneath their feet, he had escaped only because he was a short distance behind the breakage, and could avoid it. He screamed and scrambled to pull at those he could, accompanied by his father, and managed to save one Elf from a watery grave. 

Turgon himself would have toppled in if not held back by Fingon, and Fingolfin and Argon caught Idril as Elenwë, sacrificing herself, lifted her daughter clear, the effort to bring Idril up pushing her down, and then under the Ice itself. The howl that came from Turgon's throat as his wife's spirit fled would have brought the Valar themselves to tears, and it was only with great effort that Fingon and Aredhel restrained him from leaping in after her. 

He had never been the same since then, and having witnessed that, neither had Egalmoth. That was the day he, though only forty-two years of age then, counted himself an adult, for he had seen that which left childhood irretrievable, lost forever. 

Egalmoth raised his head, emerging from the memory, to find Eöl staring at him, his dark eyes full of emotion. There was fear and hatred there but also love and passion, and above all, the desire for peace and safety. Those were eyes which had seen horrors, much like his own. 

The patter of running feet outside attracted his attention, and he turned as Meleth, one of Idril's handmaidens, came in. "The Lady Aredhel suffers greatly!" Meleth exclaimed, wringing her hands, her braided hair swinging. "Our healers have tried much already, and there is nothing that even relieves her pain." She caught sight of Eöl, and her face filled with rage. "You, you, you have brought this upon us! Glad I am that you are not of my people, for your theft of a woman of the Noldor!" She approached the cell, and Egalmoth watched her closely, ready to intervene. "I saw Aredhel's mind, full of muddled paths and dangerous woods, and you the only light of safety in the dark forest! Safety!" She reached out, striking the bars of the cell so that Eöl jumped back a little. "When you led her to her doom!" 

"Meleth," Egalmoth said, endeavouring to keep his voice low and quiet, "there is nothing to be gained by shouting at him." 

Meleth turned away from the cell, looking over at Egalmoth. "It makes me feel better at least," she muttered shamefacedly. "And Aredhel really is grievously ill, more so than a javelin to the shoulder would indicate. Her mind is clouded and she walks in strange places that the healers cannot call her back from. There is a poison that spreads from her wound, and even the Lady Idril's powers of healing serve not."

"That is a grief to hear," Egalmoth said. "You should return to the palace and aid your mistress, Meleth. I will guard the prisoner, until Turgon's doom is pronounced." 

Meleth nodded. "I will send someone down in a while to let you know if there is any change."

As her footsteps passed through the door, Eöl sat down heavily on the bench inside the cell, frowning. Egalmoth walked over to the bars and looked through them. Fear dwelt in Eöl's eyes, and Egalmoth took a sudden deep breath, resolving to ask the question at least. 

"Is there a poison on the javelin?" 

Eöl started, and then looked up at him, the frown still on his face. He was unsure, wary. Egalmoth tried to remain still, like he would have done when hunting in Vinyamar in years past. His quarry was far easier to startle than any deer. 

"Yes." Eöl's voice was heavy, full of grief and weariness. "Yes, it was poisoned. It was never intended for use on her, or indeed on my son, but rather for Orcs I might have encountered. Many have I slain on my journeys, unthanked, unnoticed."

Egalmoth breathed in, long and slow, steeling himself to ask the next question. "Then why throw it? Why attack your own son, why wound your own wife?" 

Eöl sat for a long moment, head down, pondering, before finally looking up and speaking slowly. "A cornered beast may lash out at its keepers in fear. A cage is still a cage no matter how pretty it is, and only the cage wherein we cage ourselves no cage is. So I thought for Aredhel, so I thought for Maeglin, and so I know for me. Kept here, I will fade and die in these halls of stone, and so will he. A quick death for us both would be the easier course." Eöl gave a soft, sad, smile. "I did not count on my wife's protective instincts."

Egalmoth nodded quietly, taking a moment to absorb the information he'd been given. He could not say that he fully understood Eöl, but at least he could comprehend the course of thought which had led him to this pass. Now only one question remained. 

"Is there any way to counter the effects of the poison?"

Eöl gave him a long look, and then, slowly, he nodded. "It is not an easy cure," he said, "but it may be done. Send one of her healers to me here, and I will explain it in full." 

The hours which followed were full and frantic. Healers arrived, listened closely to Eöl's words, frowned at the ingredients needed, then departed. Messengers were sent hither and yon, searching for the rare plants that made up the compound, and the soft clay that was needed to draw out the poison. All the while Egalmoth kept his vigil, and Eöl paced up and down the cell once all the healers had gone, anxiety in every step. 

Near dawn, footsteps were once again heard outside the guardhouse, and Maeglin, pale and wan from lack of sleep, entered. "She will live!" he cried out. 

Eöl and Egalmoth both gave identical gasps of relief, and tears began to stream down Eöl's face. "My son, my son, I am so sorry," he said, extending his hands through the bars of the cell. Maeglin hastened forward and took his father's hands in his own. "I was caught up in fear and rage, I did not mean to try to hurt you, or her." 

Maeglin nodded silently. "Your fate has yet to be decided, father," he said. "For me, I wish to stay here in Gondolin. You may yet have to choose between death or life here."

Eöl gave a deep sigh. "And I yet have hope that I may be free to go, and that my wife will go with me. For the cage that one chooses, no cage is."


End file.
